Sotheby’s Sale Solid, Speculations Soften

Sotheby’s strategy to offer a much-smaller sale built around a pair of attractively priced modern paintings paid off earlier tonight when it auctioned $235 million worth of Impressionist and modern art. The sales total fell midway between its presale estimate of $207 million and $284 million, with buyers paying solid, if largely conservative, prices for art across the board. The sale still fell below Christie’s $277 million sale of art on Tuesday night.

The scene at Sotheby’s.

The auction’s success hinged upon the sale of Sotheby’s two top lots, by Fernand Leger and Edvard Munch, and the house had hustled to woo bidders for both, as the paintings represented just under a third of the sale’s potential value. Three bidders went after Leger’s Cubist portrait of a woman in a blue dress, “Etude pour ‘La Femme en bleu,’” and dealer Doris Ammann won it for a record $39.2 million. It had been estimated to sell for between $35 million and $45 million. Munch’s “Girls on a Bridge” sold to a telephone bidder after a brisk, four-way bidding war for a record $30.8 million, double its high estimate.

Overall, 41 of the 52 artworks found buyers, achieving 89.6% of its total potential value, thanks in part to strong prices for typically undervalued sculptures. Ms. Ammann took home Picasso’s sculpture of a crane, “La Grue,” for $19 million, above its $15 million high estimate. Giacometti, a strong performer in this careful market, also fared well: His tall bronze of a woman, “Femme de Venise VII,” sold for $10 million, within its $8 million to $12 million estimate.

“This sale felt conservative, but it also felt good in terms of the numbers of bidders,” said Emmanuel Di Donna, vice-chairman of Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern department.

Following Christie’s below-estimate sale the night before, the mood in Sotheby’s packed Manhattan salesroom had been watchful at the start. Early on, an Egon Schiele sketch being sold by actor Sean Connery brought in $1.1 million, just under its low estimate. But half an hour into the sale, the mood lightened after New York gallery Aquavella bought Henri Matisse’s “Le Geranium,” depicting a pot of pink flowers, for $9.5 million, well surpassing its $3.5 million high estimate. Sotheby’s ex-chairman Al Taubman grinned from a nearby skybox when the hammer fell.

Auctioneer Tobias Meyer with a Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida oil on canvas, “Las Tres Velas (The Three Sails).” It sold last night for $4.5 million. (Photo: Joe Fornabio)

The auction house didn’t take as many chances with its own money this time around, though. It had doled out guarantees for around $126 million worth of artworks and wound up reselling them for $156 million. Of the sale’s 11 unsold works, the auction house had guaranteed only one, a Fernand Leger country scene priced at $12 million. In one sign that the feverish bidding atmosphere of late may be mellowing, only four records were broken, including those for Leger, Munch and a pair of lesser-known artists, Georges Valmier and Victor Brauner.

What’s more, Americans took home 67% of the sale, compared to only 32% at Christie’s sale the night before. Dealer David Nahmad says that’s because more speculative collectors – including those from emerging markets abroad – may have gotten spooked, allowing American collectors to fight over a handful of artworks like Picasso’s gangly crane that aren’t obvious trophy works. “You can’t speculate on things that are very rare,” he says, because their rarity makes it more difficult to predict their profitability at a glance. “Tonight the real collectors showed up and the speculators stayed home.” –Kelly Crow